WANGALOA COAL-FIELDS.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 3863, 4 July 1874, Page 6

WANGALOA COAL-FIELDS.

The announcement made in our columns that a coal-field of vast extent existed on the coast in proximity to Coal Point, which the Government endeavoured to develop into a coal-field, led our reporter to pay a flying visit to that locality. Leaving the Main South Road about five miles fromßalclutha, and passing over the line, which is being plated and ballasted, we rowed down the picturesque Clutha Elver to Kaitangata, where a scene of some bustle was enacted by the arrival of the steamer Tuapeka. At the bend of the river Mr R. M'Donald possesses a large and substantial warehouse, and had erected for his own and the settlers' convenience, a small but substantial jetty, where produce is embarked in the shape of wheat, oats, and barley, and where is diseaabarked all the requirements of settlers. One of the most prominent products of this rising locality is sawn timber, piles of which stood on the jetty, supplied by numerous saw mills on Inch Clutha. Following by the banks of the river, the traveller comes upon a small but commodious hotel, near the • junction of the Kaitangata with the Clutha River. Crossing the bridge, there is a small church, a schoolhouse in the vicinity, with a few small honse3, constitute the township of Kaitangata. Ascending the road towards Wangaloa, we, by direction at the sheeppen on the brow of the hill, deviated from the main road, and ascended a spur to the right, and there beheld a most picturesque and commanding view. Although the day was cold and boisterous, and a mist hanging over a portion of the vista, there was sufficient to show that no more splendid view could be obtained anywhere. On one s;de tl> • Nuggets, with its bold bluff, the windings of the Clutha for miles, the townships interspersed, in the large basin the Kaitangata Lake, on one side, formed an interesting picture. The view oceanward was not without interest, with billowy waves breaking into white foam. Descending a bridle track through a manuka bush, in places almost perpendicular, the slippery ground rendering travelling anything but easy, we arrived at Mr John M'Farlane'a homestead, where every hospitality and attention were extended. THE COAL. After tea, Mr M'Farlane led our reporter to Coal Point, on the seaward portion or the farm, and there he saw not only a seam, but a series of seams, from 22 to 24 feet thick along the Bluff, and extending upwards of a mile along the coast. Off the Bluff iuto the sea, as far as the ebbing of the tide has exhibited to view, there is a platform, or rather a shore, of a bed of pure coal thousands of yards in extent and of unknown depth, covered on the outer edges with tangle, which, in stormy weather, is detached with large pieces of coal adhering to the roots. Recently, a second seam has been traced, possessing a superior article of coal. This coal bed can be traced for upwards of twenty miles, and it is by no means an exaggeration in stating that Otago possesses in this field alone fuel for all purposes for very many generations. It is only by seeing these enormous seams the idea ot their vastness can be entertained. The branchlet line at Kaitangata will no doubt, in time, be extended by the banks of the Clutha River round the point to t1 is coalfield. Should this ta'-e place, factories, steamships, and hoiises can be supplied with a aiiperior coal free from any sulphurous smell like lignite. Captain Hutton's assertion about the extent of the field and quality of coal is perfectly reliable.